How to cook the most tender meat

[dyberrah]

When my hubby told me he was investing in a Kickstarter for an inexpensive sous vide cooking system, I responded with "What the hell is sous vide?" Apparently, it's French for “under vacuum” and describes a method of cooking in vacuum sealed plastic pouches at precisely controlled temperatures. Huh? I'll let you see for yourself.

It's becoming more popular, and when our small, submersible system arrived, I was intrigued.
DH bought chicken breast, sealed it in a package with our Food Saver, and submerged it in the pot of water, on the counter, with the sous vide immersion cooker. It took a long time - hours - but the end product? The most tender chicken I've ever chewed! It was the same for pork, lamb, beef... and cooked eggs in the shell and fish come out perfect.

The meat is so suited to the needs of the 6-8 week and beyond post-op sleever, I thought I would share the info. If anyone out there tries it out, or already cooks with the sous vide method, please let us all know how you like it!

Deb

[Paul Rigsby]

A slow cooker is ideal for me.

[JustWantToBeHealthyAgain]

Slow cooker works well for beef, pork, etc.

For chicken, I bake skinless, boneless thighs or breasts at 375-400 degrees for about 30 min. Very juicy and tender.

Fish is always a good soft meat. I like baked or broiled haddock. Soft and falls apart in your mouth.

[bigfish3]

I am a sous vide guy. I have 2 anova precision devices. I cook all sorts of proteins this way, from eggs to squid and everything in between!

Pork, beef, lamb, veal, venison and other game meats as well. This method really shines when using tougher less expensive meats.

[mtngrl]

I am looking into getting one. I read somewhere that it makes fish taste really fishy. Is that true?

[bigfish3]

only bad fish tastes really fishy!
I did squid last night. roughly a pound rings and tentacles in the bag with 2 cloves minced garlic and 4 sun dried tomatos also minced. A few very hardy grinds of coarse black pepper and a pinch of kosher salt. one hour in the bath at 180f, then drained the liquid into a heated non stick skillet to reduce by at least 3/4s. added the squid back in to coat in the very thick pan liquid, tossed until reheated and then mounted with 1 tbs butter off heat. All the fun of fried calamari without any of the guilt!

[mtngrl]

Bigfish, what brand of sous vide do you have?

[JMiller]

my new digital pressure cooker is amazing and you can take anything from the freezer to the cooker and it is tender in under 20 minutes.

[bigfish3]

I use the anova, the pressure cooker has its uses but it is very limited.